STRENGTH & SWEAT Full Body Workout – Circuits | EPIC Heat – Day 29

Strength & Sweat Full Body Workout – Circuits is Day 29 in Caroline Girvan‘s EPIC Heat program. This was another excellent total body metabolic strength workout from Caroline. This is not one of her more killer workouts but it was still very challenging. I was still working hard and got an excellent total body workout. Caroline uses compound exercises in this workout rather than isolation exercises. What this means is, even though there are no dedicated bicep or tricep exercises, they are still being worked in all of the exercises for chest and back, plus all of the total body exercises in Circuit 2. In addition, I found this to be one of Caroline’s more fun (or funner?) workouts. Very enjoyable.

This workout is made up of 2 circuits. Each circuit is done twice. Each exercise is done for 50 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. There is a timer in the upper left hand side of the screen, counting down the intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Caroline previews the next exercise. There is also a little bar at the bottom of the screen that counts down the entire workout time as a percentage. As usual, Caroline gives some excellent and important form pointers during her intro so don’t skip over it!

Strength & Sweat Full Body Workout – Circuits is 37:45 minutes; 2:45 minute intro, no warm up and 2:30 minute stretch. Equipment: dumbbells and a fitness mat. I also used a my weight bench for the lying chest press. Caroline is using 12.5kg/27.5 pound dumbbells. The weights listed below are what I used.

Circuit 1:

1. Arnold press (16.5# DBs)
2. Front squats (hold DBs at shoulders/in front of chest) (25# DBs)
3. Bent over row (30# DBs)
4. Static/stationary lunge (20# DBs)
5. Repeat #4 on other side of body
6. Chest press (20# DBs)
7. 1.5 rep RDL (lower all the way to bottom of deadlift, raise halfway, lower all the way to bottom of deadlift, return to start) (35# DBs)
8. 70 second rest
9. Repeat #1-8

Circuit 2:

1. Squat to press (squat w/ DBs at shoulders, palms facing you, as you stand, do an Arnold press) (16.5# DBs)
2. Push ups
3. Squat to RDL (alternate one front squat with one deadlift) (25# DBs)
4. Squat to single arm press (squat holding one DB at shoulder, as you stand do a single arm Arnold press) (one 16.5# Db)
5. Repeat #4 on other side of body
6. Alt dumbbell burpee (hold one DB in one hand, do a full burpee (lowering body to ground) but when you stand, rather than jumping, do a single arm kettlebell swing with the DB swinging it overhead, when you place the DB on the floor again, change hands; Caroline also shows a low impact modification during the 10 second preview of walking feet back rather than jumping) (one 16.5# DB)
7. 70 second rest
8. Repeat #1-6

30 second rest

Finisher: (each exercise is done for 20 seconds, no breaks/rests) (I used one 16.5# DB for the entire finisher)

1. Single arm overhead press
2. Uneven half squat (hold one DB at one shoulder, lower to the bottom of squat but only raise halfway)
3. Repeat #1 & 2 on other side of body
4. Diagonal press (hold one DB by bar with both hands and press DB upward, in front of you but high overhead on an angle)
5. Half squats (hold one DB in both hands at chest, lower to the bottom of squat but only raise halfway)

For more info on Caroline Girvan’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.